Tea with Trelawney
by EmmaCorneliaHart
Summary: Stressed about her future after Hogwarts, Nymphadora Tonks follows her friend's advice and asks Trelawney what Fate has in store for her.


'Tonks, maybe you should go for a… more natural colour for your hair,' Dana said, looking at her friend's bubblegum-pink curls. 'She's very… Screaming colours aren't her thing, you might upset her.'

Tonks threw a glance at her reflection in the glass of a closet filled with animal skeletons. Her hair stood out clearly from the rest of her rather gray surroundings. She had never seen Professor Trelawney, but from what she'd gathered, she could imagine why she might not like hair this bright.

She closed her eyes, felt the familiar tinkle over her scalp, and when she opened her eyes again, her head was covered with a very decent haircut; dark blond, down to her shoulders.

'It's amazing how civilized you can look if you want to,' said Dana.

'How I can _look_, yeah. But isn't it better to just be open about my irrepressible happiness by showing everyone happy colours?' She smiled broadly at her friend, who rolled her eyes.

'Yes, yes, of course. C'mon, or you'll be late.'

Tonks followed her up the stairs, to the top of the North Tower.

'Why did you think this was a good idea again?' she asked when they started climbing yet another flight of stairs.

'Because you haven't got Divination but you're obviously desperate for answers!'

'I'm not desperate!'

Dana stopped and gave her a stern look. 'Waking up chanting, "if I don't pass my exams / I'll never be an Auror / I will be a House Elf / Yippee Yay" means you're desperate. It doesn't even rhyme. And there's no need to be, you can just ask Trelawney what's going to happen.'

'What happened to the future being unsure, not set in stone, et cetera?' Tonks asked, remembering why she hadn't picked Divination in the first place. Why waste your time on crystal balls when they couldn't even tell you what was going to happen?

Dana waved her words away. 'Shush, don't worry about that. Just _come_.'

For some reason, this failed to reassure Tonks, but Dana had already reached the top of the stairs and was saying they were nearly there.

Eventually, they stopped in a small, round room, with a ladder leading up to a square hole in the ceiling. Dana took a step backwards from the ladder, and said, with something bordering on worship, 'She's up there.'

'Okay. Thanks for taking me,' said Tonks. 'I'll see you later then?'

'If you don't get lost on your way back.'

Tonks laughed. 'I think that ladder is more worrisome.'

'The fall wouldn't be fatal,' said Dana, eyeing the height of the ceiling. 'Though I still suggest you don't fall… I'm not sure if Professor Trelawney has the best medi-magi skills… Have fun. And be nice,' she added, before leaving the room.

Tonks climbed up the ladders. When she was halfway up, the smell of incense and her grandparents' house hit her. When her head popped over the rim, she started coughing from the intensity of the smell. How did people survive _hours _of class in this room?

She climbed the last couple of steps, taking in the room. It was dark and red; the rust-coloured curtains blocked most of the light. To her relief, she noticed most of the room was filled with beanies and comfortable chairs surrounding small tables and that there were no orbs in sight. All the less stuff for her to break.

She jumped when she heard a voice right behind her.

'Ah, you must be Miss Tonks.'

Tonks turned around and saw what she first thought was a giant insect, like in her father's movies. Closer inspection revealed it was a woman, who was wearing so much jewellery she appeared to have scales and whose big glasses gave her the likeness of a locust.

'Ah… Yup, that's me,' she said, forcing herself to smile and hold out her hand. She half-expected the woman to have claws, but her hand was grabbed and held tightly by two soft human hands.

'Yes, yes, I knew you'd come,' the woman said. 'I have been expecting you. Come, come child.' She pulled Tonks towards a beanie and set her down with more force than her thin frame gave away. She took a chair on the other side of Tonks's table and grabbed Tonks's hand again. 'Now, my dear, why is it you have come?'

_Don't you know?_ Tonks wondered. 'Oh, I, er, I've been a bit stressed lately, about next year, when, you know, I've finished Hogwarts and…' And here the story came again; when she started, she always found she was unable to stop. 'And I really want to be an Auror, but I need really high grades to even be admitted to the training and my grades are good but what if I have a complete blackout during the exams or if they decide I'm just not good enough or if I _do _get in but the training is too hard and I'll fail and I don't want to fail, I _really _want to be an Auror, always wanted to, and - ' She shut up when Professor Trelawney held up her hand, her eyes closed.

'Oh, yes dear, I can feel your distress,' she said. 'I See your desire to become an Auror.'

_Or you heard it, seeing as I just told you… _Tonks shook her head. _No, Dora, you're going to give this a chance. She might See more than you know. Besides, she knew I was coming, didn't she? That's got to count for something._

Trelawney opened her eyes again. 'My dear, if you could get a cup and the teapot, I think this calls for tea leaves. They're over there.'

Tonks nodded and got up. Her knee hit the table, but didn't turn it over, thank Morgan. She made her way through the maze of tables and chairs, until she got to a closet housing two rows of cups, some blue, some pink. Tonks grabbed a blue one and made her way back even more carefully. When she sat down again and put the intact cup on the table, she let out a small sigh of relief. So far, so good.

Only when Trelawney kept looking expectantly at her did she realize she'd forgotten something: the teapot.

At the moment she realized this, Trelawney said, 'And the teapot, dear?'

'I'll just Summon it,' said Tonks quickly. She took out her wand and said, '_Accio teapot_.' She'd put her wand away just in time to grab the levitating teapot before it fell to the ground.

Trelawney took the pot and opened the lid. 'Do you like rooibos?'

'Excuse me?'

'The tea. Do you like rooibos?'

Tonks nodded and waited until she had a cup of steaming tea in front of her. 'So do I drink it, or what am I supposed to do?' she asked.

'Yes, dear, drink it.' Trelawney was starting to sound a bit impatient.

Tonks emptied her cup as quickly as she could, scolding her oesophagus. When there was nothing left but a bit of tea drab, she put the cup down; but before she could place it on the table, Trelawney said, 'And now you should turn the tea thrice with your finger.'

'I'm sorry, what? Turn the te – oh. You mean like that.' Tonks put her finger in the cup and turned it clockwise three times before giving the cup to Trelawney.

The Divination professor stared intently at the cup, her mouth forming words she didn't speak. After a couple of minutes of silence, she exclaimed, 'Ah!'

Tonks sat up straighter. That 'Ah!' had to be a good sign – right? 'What is it?' she asked, excited.

'It's a club.'

Tonks waited for more information. When it didn't come, she asked, '… yes? What does that mean?'

'Violence, my dear, a lot of violence. And I see… an animal… But… Wait.' Trelawney frowned and turned the cup around in her hand, then turned it back again. 'A wolf, but… combined with the lotus. That's very peculiar…'

'Does it mean I'll be an Auror?' Tonks asked hopefully.

'No, no,' said Trelawney. 'No, it means… A lotus means unrequited or troubled love, a wolf is… Well, a wild animal or a wolf, most of the time. You will love… You will love an animal, but it will be hard for you.'

Tonks felt disappointment flowing through her entire body. Trelawney thought she just wanted to know as if she'd have a boyfriend. She knew that's why some of her friends had taken Divination, but honestly, she couldn't care less about a boyfriend right now.

'Okay, that's… That sucks for me, but does it say anything about my career? About next year? Bad guys?' she asked.

Trelawney's had snapped up. 'It said _violence_, didn't it? Now be quiet, I'm trying to concentrate. You're diluting my Sight.'

'Sorry.'

Trelawney was silent again. She brought her eyes so close to the cup, her glasses were smeared with a bit of tea. 'I can See… Ah. A clover leaf. You'll have success, sweetheart. I think that answers your most urgent question, doesn't it?'

Tonks nodded. 'Success? Really?' she whispered.

'Yes. Success in the violence of your future.' The woman sighed and put the cup down again. Tonks tried to see a club or a wolf in the tea leaves' residue, but all it was to her was brown sludge. 'You will face some hard years, my dear.'

'That's all right.' When she'd had her Career-advice from Professor Sprout, she'd been warned the Auror training was difficult. She was fine with working hard, as long as that meant she'd be an Auror. 'I'll have success? Yes! YES!'

She jumped up, her clenched fists pointing at the ceiling, feeling as if she could take on the world.

And maybe she could. She could take the table, at least; it was shaken by her sudden jump and tilted towards Trelawney; the cup, which had been precariously close to the edge, fell off and broke on the floor.

The sound of china breaking brought Tonks back to earth. She looked at the white-and-blue shards on the floor and felt her cheeks redden. 'Oh. Oh, I'm sorry, I'll fix it,' she said, taking her wand. She pointed at the broken pieces and said, '_Reparo_.'

The shards of china moved, came closer, came together and – fell apart again.

'Oh.' She felt Trelawney's eyes on her and, determined to fix the situation, she tried again, much to the same result.

'It's all right, dear,' Trelawney said, eyeing the remains of her cup wearily. 'I have others, don't worry about it.'

'But I…' She tried once more and – lo and behold – they stayed together! Proudly, Tonks bent to pick it up. Her smile wavered a bit when she saw the clear lines where the china had been broken; she was sure that if her mother had fixed it, no one would've known the difference between the before and the after-cup.

'See? I fixed it,' she said, handing the cup to Trelawney. 'Professor, thank you, thank you so much for helping me out with this. I… you made my day. My week. My _year_.' She reached out, as if to hug Professor Trelawney, but the hugee had got up and was now taking the cup to the cupboard.

'You're welcome, dear. Now, I've a lot to do, so I must ask you to leave, but feel free to come by again,' she said.

Tonks nodded, smiled again and made her way down the ladder. When she ran past a large, gold-framed mirror, she stopped to stare and laughed. Without her noticing it, her hair had turned back to its normal, pink colour. The colour of her irrepressible happiness.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Five years later.<strong>_

During the Order meeting, Tonks noticed her thoughts kept drifting off. Not to the wonderful dinner Molly was sure to have prepared, not to the workload she had waiting for her when she got home, not to the fact that her shoes were a bit too small… No, somehow, all her thoughts managed to have Remus Lupin in it.

He was sitting diagonally opposite her and she couldn't help but smile every time she looked at him. He didn't look too good tonight; the full moon had only been three nights ago.

She tried to imagine Remus as a werewolf and failed horribly. She thought he looked more like an overgrown teddy bear than a giant wolf.

A giant wolf. Wolf. Man. Wait. Her brain was trying to tell her something. It had to do with Hogwarts – stress –

'_No, no,' said Trelawney. 'No, it means… A lotus means unrequited or troubled love, a wolf is… Well, a wild animal or a wolf, most of the time. You will love… You will love an animal, but it will be hard for you.'_

She nearly choked on her Butterbeer.

_You will love an animal._

_No no no_, she thought. _That was just Trelawney talking nonsense. It was years ago, maybe it was about someone's pet, maybe it was…_

_Maybe I'm in love with Remus Lupin, werewolf extraordinaire. _

_Oh, shit._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Please review! (: I'm very curious to know what you thought._  
><em>


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